Yahoo! Games

Ryan Knaus

NBA Fantasy Trends

Charlotte Fever

Curry's season gets nixed—Eddy Curry's season-ending knee surgery has had a surprisingly muted effect both in real life and in fantasy leagues. His awful play and limited minutes had basically rendered him useless, but even so, you'd think that the disappearance of a nearly 300-pound center would have more noticeable fallout.

Instead, we have Wilson Chandler as a starter, and little else. Chandler has started the last six games for New York, compiling averages of 5.8 points on 30% shooting, 4.8 rebounds and basically nothing else. Pretty great, huh? Let him hang on the waiver wire until he posts a few lines worthy of an NBA starter.

The Heat—Udonis Haslem is dealing with an ankle that is sprained in two places and has bone spurs, not a promising injury for any player, let alone a member of the lottery-bound Heat. Miami can't afford to lose any more players but may soon have to shut Haslem down for the season—doctors have already cautioned that continued activity could exacerbate the injury.

If and when Haslem does shut it down for good, the Heat will be forced to cobble together a front-court consisting of Mark Blount and untested big men Alexander Johnson and Earl Barron. None of these guys are a fantasy shoo-in—in fact, they're probably not even worth owning outside of deep leagues. Blount is lucky to get 10 points and five rebounds in a game, with comical contributions to other categories.

Earl Barron is hardly better. He scored a career-high 21 points last Sunday, but a quick glance at his other career-highs will explain my pessimism. In a single game, Barron has never had more than seven rebounds (he did that twice), two assists (once), two steals (twice) and one block (many times). Oh, and if that isn't enough to dissuade you, he's a career 37% shooter. Yikes.

Then there is Alexander Johnson, who has "upside" only because we haven't seen much of him. In his career, he's averaging four points and three rebounds in 14 minutes per game. Even when you throw in 0.5 steals and 0.5 blocks, he's probably not the type of player owners are looking for as we approach the fantasy playoffs. Keep an eye on him, but don't worry if it wanders—the Heat are awful in fantasy leagues as well as real life.

Princes in waiting—John Salmons and/or Francisco Garcia could be in for a resurgence in value if king of the hill Ron Artest's "stiff elbow" turns out to be anything serious. I'll only give this a brief mention, because nothing indicates that the injury will be season-ending and Artest played a whopping 42 minutes on Tuesday. Still, he had surgery to remove bone chips in the same elbow earlier this season, and it's within the realm of possibility that this injury could escalate the longer he plays with it.

Thanks for reading along, hope it gave you some things to consider as the season winds down. Until next week,

RK

The Nuggets—Nuggets guard Chucky Atkins is making his return from a sports hernia look like Child's Play. Here are his averages in the past two games, along with those of Anthony Carter:

Carter, the incumbent starter, is comfortably settled in the land of mediocrity. Owners know what to expect from him, though now that Atkins is healthy they should lower those expectations—Carter hasn't played more than 25 minutes in a game since Atkins' return.

Chucky has some fantasy momentum after his impressive play last week, but will need more playing time if he is to make an impact in average leagues. He's a low-risk source of threes and assists and is at least worth keeping an eye on, given Denver's high-scoring ways (when you score 168 points, everyone gets their share).

Charlotte fever—Gerald Wallace's return is a good thing, right? Well, it is if you own him, but for all the other Bobcats his return has had a concussive impact. He will steal shot attempts from Jason Richardson, but most damaging is the 38 minutes that he plays per game. Suddenly Matt Carroll is a non-factor (averaging four points in the four games since Wallace's return) and you can hardly even consider Jared Dudley any more (averaging less then 8 points and 4 boards post-Wallace). All this despite Wallace slowly working himself into the lineup, averaging just 27 minutes since his return.

The fact that Wallace isn't playing power forward should help the fantasy value of Emeka Okafor and Nazr Mohammed, but so far their production has been stagnant. Unfortunately, it will take more than a few extra minutes per game for Mohammed to have value in average leagues.

The Bulls—I admit to being wrong about Drew Gooden. I argued a few weeks ago that his production in Chicago would be virtually identical to his production in Cleveland, on account of his blue-collar basketball skills. What I apparently overlooked is that having LeBron James as a teammate was stifling Gooden's game. His first year in Cleveland, Gooden played just 30 minutes per game but managed to set or tie career-highs in points (14.4), rebounds (9.2), free throws made (3.1), free throw percentage (81%), steals (0.9) and blocks (0.9). Those numbers dropped across the board once LeBron arrived in Cleveland.

Now the good news: in his 12 games since joining the Bulls, Gooden has improved his season averages in every single category, including turnovers. What's most appealing is his versatility—he's snagging 0.7 steals but has raised his blocks to 1.4 per game while shooting 47% from the field, 77% from the line and turning the ball over just 1.3 times per game. Throw in an automatic double-double and he deserves a serious look in deep leagues.

Outside of Gooden, however, the Bulls are a fantasy nightmare. Witness Ben Gordon log a season low 14 minutes one night, followed by a 31-point performance in the very next game. Andres Nocioni went from averaging 21 minutes per game since March 1st to a season-low five minutes in the Bulls last game. Kirk Hinrich has seen his playing time dwindle and was flat-out embarrassed by Chris Paul in the Hornets recent comeback win in Chicago. He scored zero points in that game and has double-digit points in only one of his last six games. Ugly and uglier.

The Bulls young big men aren't faring much better. Joakim Noah is averaging 28 minutes per game in March, but hasn't cracked seven rebounds since his 20-board explosion on March 6th. He's easily the Bulls best option at center (I'm not counting Aaron Gray, since he's playing nine minutes per game in his rookie campaign) and should see close to 30 minutes for the rest of the season. In spite of his short-comings, I still think he should be watched very closely in most leagues.

Tyrus Thomas is similarly disappointing—he recently skipped a practice to have some Chinese food and is obviously upset with his minute role (no pun intended) in the Bulls frontcourt. In sharply descending order, Ben Gordon, Larry Hughes and Thabo Sefolosha all have value, but the Bulls crowded backcourt necessitates a minute-share that fluctuates and is unfriendly for fantasy purposes. Owners have to steer very wide to avoid the train wreck in Chicago.

Maybe they're pacing themselves—Pacers point guard Travis Diener was finally benched after an 0-of-9 shooting performance last Friday. He has scored 22 points in his last five games combined, shooting a putrid 7-of-41 (17%) during that stretch. Feel free to cut him in all formats.

The Flip side of the coin is that Flip Murray got promoted, though he isn't setting the world on fire as a starter, managing 13 points, two rebounds, three assists and 1.5 steals in his two starts. He's not a terrific shooter (41% for his career), but he's scored double-digit points in six of the last seven games and should steadily improve while starting. He could be a worthwhile source of points, steals and assists before very long. Owners in deep leagues should consider scooping him up right now, though most can afford to wait a while and see whether his numbers pick up.

Jamaal Tinsley—all evidence supports the notion that Tinsley won't play again this year. He can't even participate in limited, non-contact drills, so stick a fork in him and move on. Let his fate be a lesson to us all for next season…sell high!

Pietrus has played 30+ minutes in five straight games, a somewhat unbelievable streak given Don Nelson's infamously fickle rotations. He's converted the extra minutes into compelling averages of 12 points on 47% shooting, 1.1 three-pointers, 7.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks, numbers most owners would be glad to have at their disposal. There's always the very real possibility that Pietrus' run as a starter will end, but it seems unlikely since he's playing well and Chris Webber is expected out through the end of the regular season.

The rise of Pietrus has also been the demise of Matt Barnes and Brendan Wright, though as a rookie Wright never really stood a chance in Nellie's system. UPDATE: Pietrus was benched on Tuesday and finished with four points on 1-of-6 shooting in 16 minutes. Nellie has proved once again how futile it is to try to figure out Golden State's rotations. Unless you have tarot cards and a streak of self-delusion, your guess is as good as mine whether Pietrus will start again.

Hakim he gets to play and I don't?—Hakim Warrick has been the biggest beneficiary of Pau Gasol's departure from Memphis, but his strong play hasn't guaranteed him a spot as a starter. Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni has recently switched to a smaller lineup, shifting Warrick to the bench where his minutes are constricted. Rudy Gay and Mike Miller fill the forward spots while Juan Carlos Navarro shifts into the starting five.

Warrick is still a potent offensive player, particularly on the post, and the Grizzlies will play him close to 30 minutes even if he's coming off the bench. He should hover around 15 points and six rebounds per game, but unfortunately a toothbrush has more versatility than Warrick does. Consider him a border-line option in the majority of leagues, but keep a close eye on the Grizzlies rotations since a move back into the starting five is quite possible. And if Darko Milicic, Juan Carlos Navarro, Mike Miller or Rudy Gay are injured, pick up Warrick immediately.

Curry's season gets nixed—Eddy Curry's season-ending knee surgery has had a surprisingly muted effect both in real life and in fantasy leagues. His awful play and limited minutes had basically rendered him useless, but even so, you'd think that the disappearance of a nearly 300-pound center would have more noticeable fallout.

Instead, we have Wilson Chandler as a starter, and little else. Chandler has started the last six games for New York, compiling averages of 5.8 points on 30% shooting, 4.8 rebounds and basically nothing else. Pretty great, huh? Let him hang on the waiver wire until he posts a few lines worthy of an NBA starter.

The Heat—Udonis Haslem is dealing with an ankle that is sprained in two places and has bone spurs, not a promising injury for any player, let alone a member of the lottery-bound Heat. Miami can't afford to lose any more players but may soon have to shut Haslem down for the season—doctors have already cautioned that continued activity could exacerbate the injury.

If and when Haslem does shut it down for good, the Heat will be forced to cobble together a front-court consisting of Mark Blount and untested big men Alexander Johnson and Earl Barron. None of these guys are a fantasy shoo-in—in fact, they're probably not even worth owning outside of deep leagues. Blount is lucky to get 10 points and five rebounds in a game, with comical contributions to other categories.

Earl Barron is hardly better. He scored a career-high 21 points last Sunday, but a quick glance at his other career-highs will explain my pessimism. In a single game, Barron has never had more than seven rebounds (he did that twice), two assists (once), two steals (twice) and one block (many times). Oh, and if that isn't enough to dissuade you, he's a career 37% shooter. Yikes.

Then there is Alexander Johnson, who has "upside" only because we haven't seen much of him. In his career, he's averaging four points and three rebounds in 14 minutes per game. Even when you throw in 0.5 steals and 0.5 blocks, he's probably not the type of player owners are looking for as we approach the fantasy playoffs. Keep an eye on him, but don't worry if it wanders—the Heat are awful in fantasy leagues as well as real life.

Princes in waiting—John Salmons and/or Francisco Garcia could be in for a resurgence in value if king of the hill Ron Artest's "stiff elbow" turns out to be anything serious. I'll only give this a brief mention, because nothing indicates that the injury will be season-ending and Artest played a whopping 42 minutes on Tuesday. Still, he had surgery to remove bone chips in the same elbow earlier this season, and it's within the realm of possibility that this injury could escalate the longer he plays with it.

Thanks for reading along, hope it gave you some things to consider as the season winds down. Until next week,

Despite residing in Portland, Maine, Ryan Knaus remains a heartbroken Sonics fan who longs for the days of Shawn Kemp and Xavier McDaniel. He has written for Rotoworld.com since 2007. You can follow him on Twitter.Email :Ryan Knaus